There is cautious optimism in Cache Creek as village officials continue to monitor water levels on the Bonaparte River.

This as new modelling from the BC River Forecast Centre shows the Bonaparte River near Cache Creek might have peaked. It shows the river’s discharge is now below 90 cubic metres per second, which is down about 10 per cent since Wednesday’s peak.

Cache Creek Emergency Operations Centre Information Officer, Wendy Coomber, tells RadioNL they’re not out of the woods yet, as the river is still at an all-time high.

“It has come down considerably,” she said of the water levels in Cache Creek. “We’re told that there is no more snow in that area to melt but we’ll see this weekend.”

“We’re hoping that any snow melt north of us that affects the river will be slower so that the rise in the Bonaparte River level is manageable.”

An estimated 300 Cache Creek residents have been ordered out of their homes – the majority on Tuesday – with Coomber saying those orders have been extended until next Tuesday, May 16.

She says the Village has security personnel watching people’s houses around the clock.

“I believe after 2020 or during 2020, the river became wider and able to contain more water,” she said. “[The Bonaparte] is definitely running faster and higher than our record in 1990, but it has not breached significantly yet.”

“The water that people are seeing here and there along the river properties is from groundwater coming up.”

Coomber says work to clean up the area around the Fire Hall is underway, noting the “infamous” Quartz Road culvert will remain plugged for a while.

“They carted out 99 truck loads of silt and mud yesterday. That is just around Quartz Road, that’s not the rest of town,” Coomber said. “The rest of it will hopefully be cleaned up today although Quartz Road will remain closed at Highway 1 for an undetermined  amount of time.”

“We’ve engaged with a debris manager who will hopefully be able to help both businesses and the village and perhaps even private properties to clean up some of this mud and debris and get the town looking a little nicer as soon as we can.”

For the latest on flooding information in Cache Creek, go here or to the Village of Cache Creek Facebook page here.